Inside Unmanned Systems

APR-MAY 2018

Inside Unmanned Systems provides actionable business intelligence to decision-makers and influencers operating within the global UAS community. Features include analysis of key technologies, policy/regulatory developments and new product design.

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49 April/May 2018 unmanned systems
inside
ENGINEERING. PRACTICE. POLICY.
NO MICRO UAVS
The numbers are as interesting for what
they do not include as for what they do. Teal
did not try to estimate the impact of new
regional conf licts, though the study authors
said, "such events are quite likely." Also not
considered are more "drastic" events such
as an escalation in the dispute over the is-
lands in the East China Sea.
One thing that has been left out for the
sake of clarity are the micro UAVs—the re-
ally small quadcoptors and other unmanned
aircraft valued at less than $10,000.
Including micro UAVs "can distort the pic-
ture of what's really happening," study co-
author Steven Zaloga said. "So one year the
forecast for the United States will be, say, six
thousand UAVs—of which maybe 50 are the
large substantial UAV's and the remaining
5,550 are these little small things. Then the
next year it will drop to 50 because they're
not buying the small stuff." It makes it look
like the market disappeared, he said.
Zaloga pointed out there's no real pro-
gram of record in the U.S. for a militarized
quadcopter and he doesn't think that will
change in the immediate future. The U.S.
Army isn't under pressure to buy large
quantities of small UAVs as long as there's
not a lot of infantry style fighting going on,
he said. The services also want something
that is more secure and, most importantly,
has a battery that enables longer endurance
f lights—something, Zaloga believes, they
are expecting the private sector to produce
without prodding.
MARKET
$
83B
Global Military UAS Budget Forecast
FY18 to FY27
UAV Production By Region
BY THE
NUMBERS
$9.6
billion
Rest of
the World
billion
$13.0
¢
3.08%
Compound
Annual
Growth
FY2018
FY2027
4,211
5,381
4,770
Annual Procurement
and R&D Forecast Fiscal
Year 2018 (millions)
Annual Procurement
and R&DForecast Fiscal
Year 2027 (millions)
8,244
TO
TOP
Source: Teal Group
Country/Region 2017 2026
$ Millions # of Units $ Millions # of Units
USA 1,755 1,179 4,400 2,530
Asia-Pacifi c 1,092 724 2,523 1,134
Europe 714 666 1,524 972
Mid-East 609 509 1,534 273
Africa 20 12 114 113
Americas 1 27 213 32
Table 1
$ $ $ $
Total Global Military
UAS Budget for
10 Year Period (billions)
$83.7 Procurement
$28.1 R&D
$111.8 Total